By paNOW Staff

UPDATE: Search for missing four-year-old now a recovery effort, police say

May 17, 2018 | 2:47 PM

Prince Albert Police have confirmed the search for a missing four-year-old boy has become a recovery effort.

Sweetgrass Kennedy was reported missing to police May 10. During a media conference Thursday afternoon. Insp. Jason Stonechild said a witness told police they saw a group of small children playing near the riverbank in the 800-Block of River St. E.

“Through witness testimony, we were able to discern with confidence that Sweetgrass was one of those children and that he fell into the water from which he didn’t recover,” Stonechild said.

Over the past week, Stonechild said search teams have covered an area 160 kilometers in size. Stonechild said the river search has been very challenging with limited visibility, depths ranging from three to 11 feet, and a current that moves as fast as 800 cubic meters per second.

“It was a big decision for the Saskatoon Fire Department Search and Dive Team to come out. They know all the information like the water temperature and flow of the river, and despite that when they heard it was a four-year-old missing child, they came out,” Stonechild said.

BDO Debt Solutions

No Spend January Challenge

Jan 02, 2025

Year enders

Year in review: A look at Prince Albert's top stories of 2024

Jan 01, 2025

6'5" defencemen addition

Raiders acquire Fabrizi from Red Deer in exchange for Pederson

Dec 31, 2024

Richard Kent, Commissioner of Saskatchewan First Nations Emergency Management, told reporters crews have some high tech equipment at their disposal including a remotely-operated vehicle that can locate objects on the bottom of the river with sonar.

“They have a side scan sonar as well, so it doesn’t matter how murky the water is,” Kent said.

The search for Kennedy has been a group effort involving numerous agencies, Kent added. Several of those agencies were represented at the media conference Thursday including the Prince Albert Grand Council, Buckland Fire and Rescue, and Saskatoon Search and Rescue.

Emergency and Protective Services Officer Randy Bear said the search crews will not abandon their efforts.

“We’ve exhausted the search downriver, but we are not giving up,” he said.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 4:55 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, 2018 to include additional details and quotes from today’s press conference.

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @PrinceAlbertNOW